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Bobby

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	Day 13, More Pacific Coast and Olympic National Park Travel > 2017 Autumn Cross Country This morning we said goodbye to Kathy and Gary and headed to Olympic National Park. After a couple of hours on the road we stopped for a quick break at a rest area and went into the camper. I said to Laurie as a joke that I would like to have 2 eggs scrambled, bacon and toast. She grabbed her skillet and in a few minutes I had a very nice breakfast in a rest area someplace in Washington. We love traveling in a camper with all the comforts of home.
	Day 11-12 Laurie's Friends Kathy and Gary Travel > 2017 Autumn Cross Country Today we continued up the Pacific Coast and ended the day at Laurie's friends home in Washougal, WA. They were the perfect hosts and had wine waiting for us. The next day Kathy treated us to the Pompeii exhibit in Portland which we loved. That afternoon Laurie and Kathy caught up while baking cookies while I took a nap.
	Day 10, Pacific Coast Travel > 2017 Autumn Cross Country Today we headed for the Pacific Coast and actually got a campsite on the beach at Tillicum Beach not long after lunch. On the way to the beach we hit another wonderful roadside cafe in Elkton called Arlene's Cafe. The breakfast was great. The owners were from Murphy, NC.
	Day 9, Crater Lake, OR Travel > 2017 Autumn Cross Country Today was all about getting to Crater Lake. We could see the snow capped mountains long before we got to the lake. The weather was perfect and the scenery made up for the sights we missed in Death Valley because of the smoke. I was here when I was 24 years old and it still looks the same.
	Day 8, Smith Valley, NV to Susanville, CA Travel > 2017 Autumn Cross Country We had a very nice visit with Cousin Judy. The sky gets dark at night in Smith Valley, NV. Judy and I got some photos of the Milky Way. The photo above is my best attempt. The vertical haze in the photo is the Milky Way. We can't see that from Raleigh, NC.
	Day 7, Stovepipe Wells, Death Valley to Cousin Judy's Travel > 2017 Autumn Cross Country We had high hopes for Death Valley. We planned to stay 2 days and 3 nights in the middle of the park at Stovepipe Wells. We were going to ride Ruby in the mid 80 ° weather that was forecasted and get some great sunrise and sunset shots. The fires in California cancelled our plans. I have been to Death Valley several times and the air has always been very clear. When we arrived the smoke was so thick there was not much to see. I did not take a single photo.
	Day 6, Peach Springs, AZ to Stovepipe Wells, Death Valley Travel > 2017 Autumn Cross Country A continental breakfast was included in the campground fee so we had coffee, juice and bagels before we left. Old Route 66 leaves I-40 near Seligman and loops north of I-40 through here to Peach Springs then back down to reconnect with I-40 at Kingman. I've read that Peach Springs was the inspiration for Radiator Springs in the movie Cars. We stopped to photograph a couple of abandoned motels on old Route 66 west of Peach Springs.
	Day 5, VLA, Pie Town and Seligman, AZ Travel > 2017 Autumn Cross Country We were on the road before sunrise again heading toward Pie Town. I took this route on my 40 to Phoenix motorcycle ride back in the spring and wanted to share it with Laurie. The first stop was the Very Large Array (VLA). The radio antennas are cool and the views are very nice. The air was clear and crisp unlike what we would run into the next day.
	Day 4, Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta and Good Local Food Travel > 2017 Autumn Cross Country We hate getting into crowds so I thought driving to the top of Sandia Crest at 10,600 feet would be a great place to view the morning ascension of the balloons while skipping the crowds. We were on the road before 5:00AM local time to reach the mountain top before the 7:00AM ascension. The view was great and we watched the sun rise with clouds below us in the valleys.
	Day 3, Route 66 From Amarillo to Bosque, NM Travel > 2017 Autumn Cross Country Showing Laurie some more Route 66 places I visited on my "40 to Phoenix" motorcycle ride back in the spring. You can read more about some of these places by reading my "40 to Phoenix" blog
	Day 2, Little Rock to Amarillo and Route 66 Travel > 2017 Autumn Cross Country Today we visited some Route 66 sites I photographed earlier this year during my "40 to Phoenix" motorcycle ride. You can read more details about some of these places in that blog
	2017 Wings Over The Smokies Travel > Local When I met Laurie many years ago one of the first things we did together was to go to the Wings Over The Smokies Gold Wing rally in the western NC mountains. She had a yellow Honda 750 Nighthawk and I got a blue one shortly after we met. (I met her on AOL, remember those days?
	Wing World Article Travel > 2017 40 to Phoenix The editor of the GWRRA magazine, Wing World, asked me to write a summary of my 40 to Phoenix trip in April of this year. It was printed in the July edition. Below is the text of the article. Following that are scans of the article as it appeared in the magazine.
	Day 12, Great Photo and Last Post From the Road Travel > 2017 40 to Phoenix I originally planned to ride another curvy mountain road but I had enough of that yesterday. I decided on fast and straight and left before 6:00AM as I wanted to see the sunrise and needed to get in some miles today. I was rewarded with one of my favorite photos of this trip.
	Day 11, I Am Done With Curvy Roads for a While Travel > 2017 40 to Phoenix Laurie returned home today. We got her bag, and extra bag for stuff we bought while she was here and my usual bag all strapped on Ruby for the ride to the airport. We looked like the Beverly Hillbillies, but it all worked out and we got her on the plane for home. Southwest has a direct flight between Phoenix and Raleigh each day so that made her travel easier.